Ipad 2 vs ipad 3

[karl]

Good day to all you good people here in pinball heaven.

Need some advice.

I am very happy with how Pinball Arcade runs on my IPAD 2 but is there someone here who have tried it on both ipad 2 and 3 and can tell me if the difference can justify an upgrade. Since I am probably spending at least an hour on this game every day and also using the ipad to read magazine etc I am considering upgrading. But if there is no difference between them I could probably spend my money more wisely

Appreciate any advice.

Karl

 

[Kevlar]

I have it on both, give me 10 minutes I'll post some screenshots.

 

[Heretic]

The only real difference is a higher resoultion so fidelity is better, and possibly lighting in the future but if you are happy with ipad 2 preformance. Better saving till next year man.

 

[night]

I have it on both, give me 10 minutes I'll post some screenshots.

Hanging around in the pub again mate?

 

[Kevlar]

Hanging around in the pub again mate?

? I must be a bit slow this morning, I don't get that.

 

[Kevlar]

Hmm....having difficulties with screenshots this morning.

As others have said above though the increased resolution definately looks better, the smaller wording on the playfield becomes readable on ipad 3. If I go back to the ipad 2 for anything with text in ( its now my wifes ) I can see the difference straight away, text is blurry on ipad 2. I couldn't go back, but I guess its subjective.

 

[mmmagnetic]

Just a warning: Once you actually tried the iPad 3 screen, no matter how happy you are with your iPad 2 now, it will suddenly look like Atari 2600 to you. The amount of pixels the 3 has is absolutely insane. All the tables look super clean and crisp, and you can read every single insert.

Photos and text is another thing where this display shines. I had an iPod Touch 4th gen and was used to clear text, had a refurbished iPad 2 for a while and just couldn't take it.

However - I still stopped playing the TPA on my iPad once I got my 360. The hi res is very nice, but with the lack of proper lighting it just has a quite sterile, flat look to it. And I personally have pretty suddenly fallen out of love with touch controls. so I use my iPad mostly for browsing, watching photos and videos, and the occasional digital boardgame with my girlfriend.

If you had no ipad and where going to buy one anyways, yeah, iPad 3 would be a no-brainer. If you're still happy with your 2 and don't mind the pixels and want TPA on the go, you could also consider a Vita. The thing about the iPad is that you can be certain that there's always going to be a new model each spring. On the other hand, you could probably still sell the 2 for a decent price now, once the 4 is out the 2 might be too old.

I'm on my iPad right now, I can post some TPA screens later.

 

[karl]

No worries. Take your time. Looking forward to the pictures. Thanks for the tip Heretic. What about you Kevlar? Knowing what you know, would you buy it again?

 

[karl]

Thanks mmmagnetic. appreciate your advice. That is what I was afraid of (regarding the pixels)

 

[Kevlar]

No worries. Take your time. Looking forward to the pictures. Thanks for the tip Heretic. What about you Kevlar? Knowing what you know, would you buy it again?

Definately, as I said above I couldn't go back. I owned an iphone 4 for a while before I bought my first ipad ( 2 ) and I was emediately dissapointed by the resolution of the ipad 2 because I was used to the high pixel density and sharp text on my iphone 4. I've shown some friends the difference and some can't even see the difference or have to have it pointed out so it definately depends how fussy you are or how good your eyesight is.

 

[mmmagnetic]

http://i.imgur.com/9OVeM.jpg

Here´s a little comparison. I tried to upres the iPad 2 screenshots to the same size as the retina ones, but couldn´t figure out how to turn off
smoothing in Photoshop, so here´s the 1:1 pixel ratio.These are taken from the much bigger screenshots below.

The full screenshots of MM and ToM:

http://imgur.com/a/uue6y#MwMwD
(You might have to do some clicking around to see the actual full res, the insane thing about iPad 3 screenshots is that you can´t see them
1:1 at once on your screen because most monitors have less pixels than the iPad 3.)

I made the SD ones when I still had my refurb iPad 2 and already I was going to sell it and get the 3 instead, that´s why I have the SD ones in the first place.

In general, MM and ToM are some of the nicer looking iOS TPA tables, with one of the worst being RBION in my opinion ("Hm, what lights on my 3x3 grid are active? I don´t know!"). Funhouse and Gorgar look brilliant as well, they have bright and colorful art that looks fantastic on the iPad 3 IPS screen.

Again, I vastly prefer playing TPA (and PHOF) on a console these days, even on PHOF most tables still look really good (I love the way Taxi and Whirlwind look!) and the lack of buttons just kills me, but there´s no denying that especially the playfield art looks great on the iPad 3. However, it´s a bit of a mishmash on some tables: The main playfield art in Gorgar was still kinda lowres last time I checked (actually, it was hires in the upper half, lowres in the lower half ). But what really helps is that you can actually read the text on all the inserts, something you just couldn´t do on the iPad 2.

What I might add is that I´ve heard that the fact that the 4 times increase in pixel is such a strain on the system that some games look actually a bit worse on the iPad 3 (some first person shooters or whatever, I don´t remember exactly). It´s an insane jump in pixel density - imagine your computer doing that! - so the big improvements in the light engine on TPA iOS might only arrive once the iPad 4 comes out. This is just me completely guessing, though! But I don´t really see the iPad 3 pushing THIS many pixels AND a complex physics engine AND a complex lighting engine all at once and still maintain 60 frames per second.

 

[karl]

Yeah! same here.I bought Ipad 2 right after iphone 4 and was not impressed but got used to it. although I am happy with how pinball arcade runs on an Ipad 2, the graphic part of Ipad 2 generally could absolutely get better. I just figured the main problem vs iphone 4 was the larger screen making pixels easier to spot.

 

[karl]

Wow! Thanks mmmagnetic.

 

[mmmagnetic]

My pleasure

 

[Gord Lacey]

The iPad 3 is absolutely gorgeous compared to the 2. Huge difference.

 

[bonch]

The Retina support is great, but I'd be willing to trade it for improved visuals if necessary because the PS3 versions of the DLC tables look amazing.

 

[Kolchak357]

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Rumor-Says-Apple-Is-Launching-Thinner-iPad-4-this-Summer-278400.shtml

There is a rumor that Sharp will be making the next display for the iPad 4. Not sure if it will look any better than a 3, but the rumor says it will be lighter & thinner. Of course, this is Just a rumor. I'm probably going to upgrade my iPad 1 at that point.

 

[Heretic]

400 quid and up for a prettier looking playfield *grins*

i actually went from 1 to 3 with no regrets even if its hardware is mostly the same as 2, the geek in me shoulda waited.

but its made weboages etc very readable in portrait now not so hard on the eyes.

id agree with all tho going back to 1 makes the game look like ya had one too many beers

im only havin. a few pints i swear

finally turned tilt of in gorgar and spent five minutes just shake the living **** outta it!


good luck with the choice man, might be better going to an apple store and askingnthem to try out the demo so you dont get buyers remores in 6-8 months!

 

[karl]

Thanks Heretic. If I do go for it I am sure I will regret it big time in 8 months (I always do with I-products). I would never bring myself to upgrade just because of pinball arcade but it is a big factor. Counting cash and twisting my mind. Stilll not sure, but thanks for all the input from all of you. Now were to hide my credit card before the pints start to work their magic

 

[Heretic]

heh, im sure it wont be man was just kidding

nor did i actually....but uhhhhh it does take up ALOT of it*grins*

perfect for reading too so if you do anymore than an hours reading a day on ipad id say that alone is worth it

gonna shake gorgar soon for therapy

good luck man